Golf tip: Learning to master the fastest greens

This is where you will see some of the greatest players in the world try to master the fastest greens of any golf course they will play all year.

The Stimpmeter reading on the greens at the Masters is usually in excess of 13 feet. The Stimpmeter reading is established by setting a ball on a narrowboard and raising the board until the ball starts to roll off onto the green.

This is done in four directions to establish an average measured in feet. But by any measurement, the greens at Augusta National are fast. A very fast green that you normally play on would be around 10 or 11.

So how do you learn to putt on fast greens? Very carefully. You have to pay close attention to the slopes on the green you are putting on.

Look for the fall line. The first part of your putt may be uphill and the last part might be downhill. Look for the apex of the break and let your ball roll down to the hole. Your goal should be for it to stop inside a three-foot circle.

Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Ben Crenshaw were probably the best fast green putters to play the game. Crenshaw probably had the best method of putting fast surfaces. He used the maximum break with minimum speed.

For the best putting results on fast greens, keep the ball below the hole and look where you want the ball to enter the hole with an 18-inch pace (meaning if it misses the hole, the ball will go about that far past).